From hangar to cockpit: How Tobii Glasses X enhances training and productivity

From constructing quality aircraft, to making sure they are flown competently in any environment, our new wearable eye tracker shows you the ins and outs of aviation skills.  

When it comes to aviation, people demand the highest standards of quality, safety, and, of course, flying. Training across aviation is ruthless and exacting, but that doesn’t mean we understand all the nuances of expert technique or the most effective behaviors.  

In fact, many of these most crucial insights are still coded within the subconscious.

What goes through a pilot’s head in challenging weather conditions?

How does a maintenance operator focus their attention when inspecting an aircraft?

How do manufacturing teams build as efficiently as possible, while ensuring the highest safety standards? 

Answering these questions helps us unlock the full potential of the aviation industry — making it safer, more productive, more efficient, and more aware. With our new wearable eye tracker, Tobii Glasses X, it’s possible to capture the details of intricate human processes. With Tobii Glasses Explore, our analytical software, incisive insights are always just a few clicks away.   

The flyers 

In the cockpit, milliseconds matter. Whether it’s an unexpected alert or a complex in-flight procedure, pilots must be prepared to react instinctively. 

Tobii Glasses X captures these rapid, often subconscious moments of expertise. In both simulators and live-flying scenarios, experienced pilots can review their own subtle behaviors and begin to articulate what they’ve internalized over years of practice. Instructors can then turn this data into clear, actionable insights for training newer pilots — making tacit knowledge visible, transferable, and easier to build on. 
 
 

The manufacturers 

Building safe aircraft efficiently isn’t just about following instructions — it’s about mastering complexity under pressure. In an industry where minor oversights have major consequences, understanding the role attention and focus has on quality is critical.  

Tobii Glasses X illuminate exactly how these technicians approach their tasks. By tracking attention through the assembly process, teams can identify where focus falters, if instructions are misinterpreted, and if critical steps are unintentionally skipped. It also highlights areas of friction — moments where the real-world workflow doesn’t match what’s written in the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure).  

This data often shines new light on your operations, outside of what you have on paper. Manufacturing leads can use it to refine SOPs, simplify handoffs, and design targeted onboarding programs that reduce time-to-competence for new staff. The result? A more resilient operation — faster builds, fewer errors, and consistently high-quality aircraft that are ready for inspection and flight.  

The inspectors  

Before an aircraft leaves the ground — and across its lifespan — inspectors and maintenance crews ensure everything is airworthy and optimized. These roles demand uncompromising attention to detail, but also deep experience, sharp focus, and an ability to spot issues that others might miss. 

Tobii Glasses X helps aviation teams capture how that expertise plays out in real time. By tracking where inspectors and maintenance technicians direct their attention during checks, repairs, or scheduled maintenance, it reveals exactly how critical tasks are approached — and where risks might slip through the cracks. 

It can show if a particular task is rushed, if something consistently draws focus away, or if teams are compensating for unclear SOPs without realizing it. These subtle insights can highlight training gaps, process bottlenecks, or steps that need reinforcement. 

With Tobii Glasses X, inspection and maintenance teams can move beyond assumptions and see exactly how work is performed in real-world conditions. Instead of relying solely on outcomes, teams can understand the decision-making and attention behind them — making it easier to spot where processes drift, where risks emerge, and where seasoned intuition can be turned into teachable moments.  

Conclusion 

Whether you're assembling aircraft, maintaining them, or guiding them through the skies, one thing ties every role in aviation together: attention. It's the thread connecting safety, performance, and efficiency — and until now, it's been frustratingly difficult to measure. 

Tobii Glasses X changes that. By capturing where people look, what they focus on, and how they respond under pressure, it brings a new level of insight to aviation training and operations. Not with theory or guesswork, but with real data from the field, unpacked with Tobii Glasses Explore, in ways that make sense to your team.